# insidegui/VirtualBuddy

Virtualize macOS 12 and later on Apple Silicon, VirtualBuddy is a virtual machine GUI for macOS M1, M2, M3, M4

Repository: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/virtualbuddy
Language: Swift
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: macos, virtual-machine
Last push: 2026-08-26T19:49:57+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1605, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 353, "gap_med": 80.5, "n_releases_24m": 5}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8516, forks 251 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:23.290253+00:00)

## What it is
VirtualBuddy is a free, open-source macOS application that virtualizes macOS 12 and later on Apple Silicon Macs, with a GUI for creating and managing virtual machines. It includes an installation wizard for downloading macOS restore images and supports running some ARM Linux distros.

## Use cases
- test my app on multiple macOS versions
- run a macOS beta in a VM on an older macOS host
- spin up a clean macOS virtual machine on my M1 Mac
- boot an Ubuntu ARM virtual machine on Apple Silicon
- disable SIP in a macOS VM via recovery mode
- try macOS betas without touching my main system

## When to choose
- you need a simple GUI to run macOS VMs on Apple Silicon
- you're a developer testing apps across macOS versions and betas
- you want a free, open-source alternative to paid VM tools like Parallels for macOS-on-macOS testing

## When to avoid
- you need to run Windows or x86 guests
- you're on an Intel Mac
- you need advanced virtualization features like snapshots, GPU passthrough, or enterprise management

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: gui, developer-tools, simulation
- domain: developer-tools, operating-systems
- platform: -
- tags: virtual-machine, apple-silicon, macos-virtualization, hypervisor, vm-manager, virtualization, macos

## Member repositories
- insidegui/VirtualBuddy (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:23.290253+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:26:40.869393+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:23.290253+00:00, sha 9ac3b8edb249)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.